The Path to Portus
by kdm18
Summary: Who knew that a fall could have so many strings attached? Join Neville Longbottom as he discovers himself, the past and Iridessa Lestrange. But remember not everything is as it seems. Nev/Iri Romantic Adventure Time-travel


_**I used to have to have this story up but deleted it when I saw that it desperate need of some renovation. I mean two years my writing style could've changed. So hopefully this first chapter tickles your fancy.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own harry potter or anything associated with the franchise. I just own my character Iridessa. Booooo yahhhh. **_

The Path to Portus

While trying to finish one of McGonagall's grueling essays Neville dozed off into a self-actualizing day dream. His mind was wondering to things that had been bothering him lately. Who was Neville Longbottom? What was his identifier? He wasn't brave like Harry or Ron; he sure as hell wasn't as smart as Hermione, and he wasn't suave or handsome like Dean and Seamus. In an inconclusive conclusion he deduced that he was just Neville, the bloke who got the short end of the stick.

People thought that he was a useless waste of a human life. Neville wasn't a star quidditch player or a charms mastermind. He was a guy who enjoyed plants. They just seemed to understand him and herbology was the only subject that he had shown an interest in. Neville liked to study the healing powers of some plants and the magical capabilities of others. He loved to explore the meanings of flowers and how they were used in history. He would spend all day in the greenhouses if he could, but alas Neville had to live in reality. In reality, he was a dumpy 6th year Gryffindor that no girl would ever approach, but enough of the pity party, Neville needed to get back to writing.

For the past couple of hours Neville had been trying to attempt to finish an essay on the vanishing spell, but that hadn't quite been working out. Instead he was mindlessly skimming through his herbology book. There was a section of the book that intrigued him to the utmost extent. During the past week he had been trying to get information about this mysterious plant from Professor Sprout but she had told him that the study of the Portus plant would not take place until 7th year. Nuts.

Neville had been mesmerized with the magical Portus plant since it was first mentioned in his textbook, sure other plants intrigued him but not like this, the Portus plant haunted his dreams. This plant was the only plant that had the capability to travel through time, but it extremely rare and had only been documented once. He wanted to know more about the plant, but there was surely only one book that would go into detail about it, the 14th Edition of Magical Plants.

He had looked everywhere for that book, he even looked outside the herbology section in case someone misplaced it, but his search didn't reap any results. Finally he decided to ask Madame Pince for help. She was behind the desk sorting through an old pile of books. Neville tried to get her attention but she didn't even lift her head. He then decided to ring the ancient bell on the counter top.

"Excuse me, Madame Pince, but I was looking for the 14th Edition of Magical Plants in the Herbology section, but it's not there." He asked rapidly. The ugly look on her face turned into a smile. Peculiar.

"Ah, yes. I checked it out to Young Miss Lestrange only yesterday. She seemed very curious about it." Madame Pince said with a serene look on her face. That was strange look but Neville was focused on the on the answer. He didn't even want to think about the answer.

"Do you know when it will be back?" he replied with a haunting look upon his face. This didn't please Neville, what did a Slytherin need with a book about plants. Shouldn't she be plotting the next deatheater attack?

"I gave her an unlimited due date. If you need it so much I'd take it up with her, Longbottom so if you'll kindly take your leave." She then motioned to the door. There was only one thing on his mind and that was Lestrange. She had his book.

Iridessa Lestrange, the bane of Neville's existence. Neville hadn't told anyone that her mother tortured his parents to insanity but she knew. She never actually did anything to him, but Iridessa looked so much like her mother that it scared to him to even glance at her sometimes. Seeing as every time that he did she stared at him with such an intense look that he thought she would burn a hole through his head. Iridessa seemed to know something that he didn't and that in its self was haunting. She was a girl of very few words and when someone did engage her in conversation she manipulated them to twist everything her way. She even had beaten Hermione in intellectual sparing matches a few times.

Getting back to the subject at hand, what did she need with the book anyway? Lestrange never seemed interested in herbology. She was always in the back of the room chatting away with Zabini and Malfoy. There were so many different scenarios that were going through his head. What if she wanted it for … dark reasons? What could he-who-must-not-be-named want with the Portus plant?

Neville was panicking now. He needed to tell someone and he needed to tell them fast. He started racing down the corridor at a lightning pace. Neville needed to find Harry or Hermione, even Ron would do at this moment in time. He just made an amazing discovery. He rounded a corner and all of a sudden Neville hit something that seemed like another human being and fell to the ground.

"Oh, bloody fucking hell!" a girls voice cried from the ground. Neville stood up rapidly and looked around him. There were papers all over the place; the girl probably dropped them when he ran into her. He tried to help her up but she was still on the ground cursing.

"I am monumentally sorry. I didn't see you there." Neville started to pick up the papers on the ground. The girl had finally gotten up and started to gather them up too. Neville stared at the back of the feminine specimen in front of him. She had a pretty cute back. Her long raven hair was flowing wildly as she was scrounging around the floor. He couldn't help staring.

"It was my fault. Blaise keeps telling me that reading and walking is a hazard." The girl explained and while she said it Neville was still staring. He noticed that the girl was starting to stand up and Neville started to internally panic. He didn't want her to notice his staring so he busied himself. He started staring and the ground and noticed an old dusty book on the floor and it seemed the girl noticed it to.

"I should've known it was you, Longbottom. Everyone knows that you can't stay on your feet for more than two seconds." Iridessa growled when she realized that it was Neville Longbottom standing in front of her. Even though he has only saw her two days ago in defense against the dark arts everything about Iridessa Lestrange looked different. Neville couldn't even put a finger on it, the normal brooding Slytherin queen looked even more miserable than usual. Usually the tone of her insults was bit more terrifying but today there was no bit behind the bark.

Iridessa Lestrange was one of the most beautiful girls to grace Hogwarts. She had the same gaunt look that her mother possessed; the only difference was that her skin looked so incredibly soft. Iridessa's dark hair ran straight down her back, usually she wore it in a high ponytail but Neville noticed the subtle change. The Gryffindor boys all admired her from afar because she was the untouchable cousin of Draco Malfoy. Also the big crazy woman that she is maternally related to and nobody wanted to get mixed in with that. Other than the beauty factor the only other thing that Neville liked about Iridessa was that she was always the one to stop Malfoy from terrorizing him. She always seemed to show up at the right time. Sometimes when he really studied her, Iridessa seemed like an alright person, but when she was around her Slytherin posse she was just a typical snake.

"What are you doing out her anyways? Shouldn't you be in that hole of a common room?" Neville replied. She laughed at this, it wasn't like that caw her mother had. It was a pretty nice laugh.

"I actually was looking for you." Iridessa said looking at the book on the ground. Neville picked it up. It was the 14th Edition of Magical Plants. It seemed weird that she wouldn't look him in the eye, but everyone knew that Iridessa wasn't one to show her emotions. "I need your help." One could say that Neville was stunned but he continued to study her while she slowly raised her head up.

"With?"

Looking him straight in the eye Iridessa said the words hat Neville expected her to ever say

"I need you to help me find the Portus Plant."

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